At the Barlows'
Newton-le-Willows, Saturday 6th October 2012
Rather than causing any trouble, Daisy was mostly trying to be helpful. Here she can be seen bring back one of the bowls to Katie for another go.
Daisy, not yet able to walk unsupported, was quite happy pushing round her Winnie the Pooh walker...
...round and round she went...
...utilising the fact that you can go in a big circle downstairs. Not entirely sure where her trousers went - perhaps they were getting in the way, or perhaps she crawled off after having her nappy changed before they could be reapplied.
While I was outside, Daisy signified her affection in the customary manner, much to Uncle Matt's enjoyment. Hopefully there wasn't too much smearing on the window.
But never mind cheesy potato, Daisy will always have room for ice cream...
...but too much can give her brain freeze.
And then there was dessert, although I don't like I have much room (except for beer).
Game number three, which involved throwing ping pong balls into a bucket which was hanging down by the window. Matt has thoughtfully covered his T-shirt up to spell the word "SHAG!".
Nana Sue watched on with admiration.
Lynne's turn for a go, and she wants to know what the score is before commencing throwing.
Unbelievably, the ping pong ball in a bucket game ended in a four-way tie, with the third round mixed up my having the bucket swing back and forth, and so we entered sudden death, the first round of which also ended in a tie, if I remember correctly (everyone missed). The next round of sudden death claimed the victims of Jordan and Aunty Janet, though, leaving Uncle Graham (who else) and me (who actually had previous form on this, after winning a similar competition last year without even needing to play the final round - it was the only game I won).
There then followed a sequence of rounds which we matched each other. Going last, I did a combination of unerring accuracy when required to match Graham's score and an inability to take advantage of the position when he missed. Eventually, however, I managed to fire one in after Graham had failed to score a point, and victory was mine. I was keen to win, if only to stop the host's clean sweep, which would never do (he was still subjected to accusations of spending the week practising). And I did all this following the emotional turmoil of events to be described shortly (ooh, I am melodramatic, aren't I).
Anyway, this is all good and well, but the games were about to be gazumped by some Daisy developments. Despite having shown signs of tiredness not moments earlier, she suddenly decided that now was going to be the time for her to begin standing up without assistance, although Uncle Matt was on protective duty.
She showed remarkable persistence and this photo does not do this justice, as she tried again and again to stand up, finally succeeding to the emotional celebration of many in the room (mainly the mothers). The wide-footed stance visible here contributed to her relative lack of balance. But slowly, if not so surely, she started to take her first ever steps.
She was loving it - you can see it in her face - although it was sending Matt to the drink. You can also see from this shot that Jordan is waiting patiently to take his shot with the ping pong balls, so this episode put the gaming on hold. As Jordan said at the time: "this is probably more important - a baby's first steps".
I did not manage to capture these particular steps on video as I was too far away from my video camera and the priority was to watch it in person (which I managed). A brief period of recuperation was followed by another series of attempts to walk, which gave me chance to fetch my equipment. Katie thought it appropriate to point a finger towards my grinning face.
And this is why I was grinning - I had managed to record her taking some of her first few steps. This is a screengrab from the video as she walked six steps to the chorus of the White Stripes' Hotel Yorba, which is a fittingly good song to do it to.
It was all a bit too much for Jordan, who went a bit crazy after this sequence of events. In fact, we were all a bit emotionally drained. We had waited a long time for Daisy to start walking, and she finally did it on the day she was 19 months old and in the presence of a number of family members (ever the performer, waiting for an audience). It was a relief as much as anything else, and there were tears of many things including joy.
Changing the subject ever so slightly, phwoar, get a load of this cheeseboard.
Which feels as fitting a way to end this tale as any.
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